Pre-made Chinese cuisine finding niche in Canada

People think of their faraway loved ones more than ever during festivals. For the Chinese, festivals mean family reunions and delicious food. They recall the mpreemory of hometown flavors.

Now, pre-made Chinese cuisine — or ready-to-cook dishes — can cure overseas Chinese's homesickness.

On the eve of Spring Festival, a Chinese pre-made cuisine advertisement that announced "calling the world to eat Cantonese specialty agricultural products of pre-made food into Canada" lit up the big screen at the Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto, sending Lunar New Year's greetings to overseas Chinese and Canadians.

At a recent Guangdong pre-made-cuisine industry development forum in Toronto, which celebrated Chinese New Year with hometown flavor, stakeholders and participants expressed optimism about the market outlook in Canada.

China's pre-made-cuisine industry has developed rapidly in the past few years with the formation of a group of powerful leading enterprises, and it's time to tap into the North American market, where there are large numbers of Asian descendants, said Li Jianping, director of Guangdong Prepared Cuisine Industry Development Center of North America, which aims to help Chinese pre-made cuisine industry go global and localize their brands.

"The technologies and supply chains of these enterprises are already very mature, and in some fields, they have achieved international leadership," Li told China Daily.

She said that China's pre-made cuisine industry has reached a scale of about 500 billion yuan last year ($73.65 billion), and this number is still growing rapidly — it will exceed RMB 1 trillion by 2026.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic as the digital economy thrives, the growing popularity of the industry has attracted cross-sector investment from companies beyond the food industry, which made it a new darling of capital in China.

But little is known about China's burgeoning prepared-cuisine industry in Canada.

Bill Chen, president of Sunny Foodmart in Toronto, said that consumers of Chinese prepared dishes in his store are mainly Chinese students studying abroad or single young people.

"We hope to attract more consumers to buy prepared Chinese dishes. For this reason, we will set up special counters for prepared foods to make it easier for customers who love Chinese delicacies," Chen said.

The Chinese pre-made cuisine enterprises also can benefit Canadian companies by increasing the participation of local suppliers in the trillion-dollar industry; empowering the supply of local ingredients; generating higher product added value, and raising the income of Canadian suppliers, according to Li.

"High-quality and cheap Chinese prepared dishes, especially Guangdong-prepared dishes with the most advanced technology and products, can greatly diversify Canadian meals. Restaurants will also benefit from using prepared dishes, because it can greatly reduce costs, improve production efficiency, and greatly shorten the waiting time for customers," Li said.

However, Chinese pre-made cuisine brands will face some challenges in localization when they go overseas. For example, that would be how to better integrate the brand with local resources, how to meet the norms and requirements of the local food industry, particularly in the ESG (Environment/Social/Governance) field.

"It will be a win-win approach if we can transplant the advanced technology and supply chain management experience of Guangdong-prepared dishes according to the preferences of local consumers and do some localized development," Li added.

North America has a rich supply of high-quality ingredients. In Canadian supermarkets, there are many Western brands offering pre-made meals and meal kits for foods such as pizza, sandwiches, and salads.

"Our products such as Golden Pomfret and Fotiaoqiang are available in major supermarkets in Canada. We are developing more cuisines to serve not only the Chinese community but also international consumers to make them feel as accustomed and convenient as eating pizza," said Tim Liu, the representative of Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products Co, a supplier of Chinese pre-made foods in Canada.

The pre-made Chinese food based on original Guangdong recipes using local ingredients has whet Canadians' appetite and interest.

Curtis Struthers, whose Chinese name is Dahai, a friend of Dashan (Mark Rowswell), a well-known Canadian comedian among the Chinese, told China Daily that he will choose the "amazing and flavorful" pre-made Guangdong cuisine when he goes to the supermarket.

"I already tried many samples of this pre-made cuisine; I really liked the pickled sour fish, Xiao Long Xia (crawfish)," he said. "When I see these foods in the supermarket, I will definitely be buying some."

Li Tong, Chinese commercial counselor in Toronto, who attended the forum stated that Chinese food culture is broad and profound, and pre-made food is the product of the times with huge growth potential.

"We hope that Guangdong pre-made food industry can open up a new prospect in Canada and drive the whole industrial chain's development so as to further promote China-Canada economic exchanges and practical cooperation," she said.